Remove bush hog blades with cordless 3/4 impact wrench?

[DieselBound]

-Dieselbound- FYI; I got the HF 3/8 earthquake impact and I am pretty impressed with it.

HF didn't have the 1/2" in stock. They had a spot on the shelf but no product. Sounds like a new order is on the boat... And, of course, my 1/2 impact didn't faze the stupid nuts! Tried heating them (one of them anyway) up and still nothing. I'd been soaking them for days.

 

[alchemysa]

HF didn't have the 1/2" in stock. They had a spot on the shelf but no product. Sounds like a new order is on the boat... And, of course, my 1/2 impact didn't faze the stupid nuts! Tried heating them (one of them anyway) up and still nothing. I'd been soaking them for days.

Forget the impact wrench. Get a nut splitter kit. They are fantastic things and much cheaper than a rattle gun. You dont have to split the nut. Just apply pressure to a couple of facets of the nut and it will break the bond so the the nut will come off easily with an ordinary spanner. You can usually re-use the nut afterwards. I have used these on 'salt penetrated' nuts that were so rusted that no amount of heat or soaking or rattling would remove.

 

[Garandman]

Had to change mine after we broke a blade on a rock (probably a lot of rocks). We used PB Blaster for a few days, a 24" breaker bar, and a 3' pipe extension.

 

[JimR]

Had to change mine after we broke a blade on a rock (probably a lot of rocks). We used PB Blaster for a few days, a 24" breaker bar, and a 3' pipe extension.

That new Hampshire Granite will do a number on steel blades. That is the worst blade I have ever seen.

 

[DieselBound]

Forget the impact wrench. Get a nut splitter kit. They are fantastic things and much cheaper than a rattle gun. You dont have to split the nut. Just apply pressure to a couple of facets of the nut and it will break the bond so the the nut will come off easily with an ordinary spanner. You can usually re-use the nut afterwards. I have used these on 'salt penetrated' nuts that were so rusted that no amount of heat or soaking or rattling would remove.

Not sure if I could get one of these in there, working above the stump-jumper plate. Might be time to start thinking about dropping the plate and the blades and just taking it somewhere. Right now this is just a low priority item on my huge list/

 

[drizler]

Of course you will likely be doing yourself a big favor later on to pull the jumper first . It's easy to get at and best of all if you toss a gear box you will be glad it came off once in a while so you can manage to get it off at all. I put Never Seize on those sort of things. They have a cotter anyways so they aren't going to loosen up and fly away.

 

[alchemysa]

Not sure if I could get one of these in there, working above the stump-jumper plate. Might be time to start thinking about dropping the plate and the blades and just taking it somewhere. Right now this is just a low priority item on my huge list/

Fair enough. You do need good access to use a nut splutter.

Another cheap option is to weld a socket to a piece of pipe, then use a pipe wrench (with an extension pipe if necessary) to turn the nut. Its a lot stronger than your average 1/2" socket bar.

 

[DieselBound]

Got the castle nut off for the stump-jumper but then wasn't able to get that off: I didn't spend a lot of time. I purchased a 1/2" NitroCat from NorthernTool and it was able to break those blade nuts/bolts loose! At first I was having doubts whether it was going to work, but, thankfully, it did it. At 1,200 ft-lbs I would think that this impact gun is likely to be able to handle just about any such nuts/bolts.